We All Fall
by RenaRoo
Summary: Blake dies. Ruby mourns, Weiss rebuilds her walls, and Yang… Yang rages.


ephemeraltea prompted: RWBY prompt: Blake dies. Ruby mourns, Weiss rebuilds her walls, and Yang… Yang rages.

Tea how could you be SOOO cruel and destroy me SOOOO thoroughly with a prompt like this. I love it. I want to rip my tear ducts out. Let's do this.

RWBY and related characters © Rooster Teeth  
story © RenaRoo

 **We All Fall**

It was a trap.

They knew it was a trap going into it. They knew they could have called upon the many friends and allies who they had made at their time in Beacon. They knew that the wise and responsible course of action was to go to their professors. They knew all of that.

 _Yang_ knew all of that.

But she also knew that it was the furthest thing from what Blake wanted.

It was a trap. But her partner wanted to believe that they were capable of overcoming that, of using the situation to their advantage.

Yang could see in Blake's eyes, that anger and pain and betrayal that was coming before reason and caution and understanding. Yang was more than familiar with it herself, but she told herself that she needed to believe in Blake, to help Blake come to realize these things for herself.

Their personal crusade to take down the White Fang was all consuming for Blake.

And in the end, as Yang held her close and watched their Pyrrhic victory became celebrated across Beacon, Blake seemed to think her last breaths were worth it somehow.

They weren't.

Not for RWBY.

* * *

The first few days after Blake's death were a blur. Yang could hardly keep straight what was happening, who was talking to her, what arrangements neede to be made.

None of it mattered to her then because Yang could focus her concern on the one thing that still mattered to her at that moment: the rest of Team RWBY.

As long as they were still broken - and they _were_ still broken into smaller and smaller pieces with every passing moment, it seemed - Yang could stand as their pillar.

Especially for Ruby.

Yang's baby sister stood around red eyed and weeping for hours and hours. She couldn't sleep, she couldn't answer to Professor Ozpin or even return the hug Professor Oobleck gave her upon their return to Beacon.

Ruby stood around in misery and Yang was the only one capable of nudging her from it.

"I'm at fault," Ruby sobbed against Yang's shoulder. "I'm the leader. I should have done something different. If something happens to a team, it's the leader's fault."

"That's not true, Ruby," Yang pressed, pulling her sister as tightly against her as she could. "It's not the truth at all, and you know it. We... we did everything we could. We did everything for Blake."

And it was the more she said these words, the more that Yang hated and disbelieved them.

Which made it such a surprise when Weiss - equally red eyed, but standing firm, eyes narrowed - stepped up to them shaking her head.

"It _is_ someone's fault," Weiss announced.

Yang instinctively tightened her grip on Ruby, throwing Weiss a warning glare, unsure of where their teammate and friend was about to take her own guilt and anger.

"It's the White Fang," Weiss continued, lifting her chin up as tears began to cascade once more. "They're taking everything away from me again. Just like they always do... they're... just going to keep taking and pretending they're justified. They're not. They're criminals. That's it. That's all they've ever been. Blake was the only good one among them. And look what they did to her."

"Weiss, that's not true," Ruby sniffed. "We have to believe that they're still... they're still capable of good... _For Blake._ "

"No, we don't have to believe anything about them," Weiss snapped. She glared down at them, the pain so obvious in her eyes it almost made Yang want to reach out for her, too. "I'll stop them, though. I'll _stop_ them for Blake."

Weiss turned on her heels and rushed out, still sniffing and huffing.

Ruby cried into Yang's shoulder again, not able to watch what was left of her team fall apart.

And Yang... Yang listened.

She listened and she felt a hard truth to those words from Weiss that she would have never believed before losing Blake.

But right then Yang had never heard anything that felt truer.

* * *

After the first week of missing classes, Professor Goodwitch pulls her aside to speak with her.

"Your absence is understandable," her professor said genuinely, arms crossed and face taut. "Your reactions to this tragedy... to the loss of your partner - they're understandable. And we will support you - _Beacon_ will support you - but you cannot lose sight of why you are here, Yang. You can't give up on your dreams when they are so close to a reality. I cannot believe that that is what Blake would have wanted for any of you."

Yang searched her face, feeling a burning anger grow with each word the Huntress gave her.

"My dreams? Why I'm here?" Yang repeated.

"Yes," Glynda said softly.

"What if I don't _know_ why I'm here?" she asked angrily. "What if Blake and I were supposed to figure those things out? Together? What am I supposed to do _then_ , Professor Goodwitch?"

She stared back and Yang before sighing, putting a hand on her shoulder. "I think you know there's only one person who can answer that, Yang," she replied before walking past her. "And she needs to decide whether or not she is going to be a Huntress regardless. Or not."

When she missed a second week of classes, she found herself in Ozpin's office.

He didn't seem angry, only concerned as he stared at her from behind his desk.

"What can we do for you?" he asked her gently.

Yang stared back, angry and miserable.

"Nothing," she answered simply.

"Do you wish to continue enrollment in this campus?" he asked her. "If you do not... well. We will help you contact your uncle and make arrangements, but I must implore you to consider everything in this decision. To remember what an excellent huntress you already have proven to be."

Yang felt her teeth gnashing. "If I'm so good, why did I lose my partner?" she demanded. "Why can't I go after the ones who took her from me?"

Ozpin stared at her carefully. "Is that what you want?" he asked.

"Yes," she answered, fists clenching. "It's _all_ I want."

"Sleep on it, tonight," Ozpin encouraged. "Talk to your sister, your teammates. Let them know how you're feeling. We'll talk again tomorrow, you and I."

She was quick to leave his office, but she did _not_ head to her room.

* * *

There were members of the White Fang everywhere.

Yang never realized it before, never really understood the compulsion Blake had to never trust those around her. But once she begun looking into the White Fang and its hold on their city, Yang realized more and more why Blake could not sleep at night.

Weiss was already giving her odd looks and more than a little bit of aggravation when Yang came to their room for a few things but beyond it, Yang paid her no mind.

Whether coincidence or by subconscious design, Yang avoided seeing Ruby in their room once again.

Out in the town, Yang was quick to find the tell-tale signs of the terrorist Faunus organization at the worst of impasses in town.

And considering that a number of them were quick to surround her once she approached, she had to assume they had devised it as some sort of trap for her.

 _Good._

Yang raged, she screamed, she threw her fists furiously at each monster that crossed her - and that's what they were, the monsters who took Blake.

She saw all red as she fought through them, and then as she blistered the streets and tore through buildings.

Nothing was safe in her path, not even friends.

Sun seemed dedicated to learning that the hard way.

"Not everyone here are even members of the White Fang!" he snarled at her. "Don't you see what you're doing? Don't you see that you're _everything_ the White Fang is telling these people to fear?"

"Get out of my way," she warned angrily, cracking her knuckles.

"No," he replied just as viciously.

"I'm doing this for _Blake!"_ Yang roared.

 _"So am I!"_ Sun screeched back.

Yang told herself that he shouldn't have been the least bit surprised to find himself on his back, mowed over as she continued on her way.

But she was done with the destruction. The moment Sun was down, rubbing his jaw, Yang saw the looks on the faces of the Faunus around her, and it struck her right to her gun to know that Sun's words were a harsh truth.

* * *

She never felt more disappointed in herself than returning to Beacon and seeing her sister curled up around herself by the entrance's pond. The exact place where they had all first met.

Yang approached, not sure if there was anything to say, whether she deserved to say anything to her precious Ruby after it all.

But Ruby looked up to see her first, wiping tears from her brimming eyes.

"I know what everyone says," Ruby sniffed. "They say... they say that you can't blame yourself. That you did everything you could. And I know it's right. But... but I don't know how to stop thinking its my fault, either, Yang. I'm so angry at myself."

Yang looked at Ruby, her knees feeling weaker and weaker before they buckled. No sooner had they hit the pavement than Yang was pulling her sister against her, running fingers through her sister's hair, breathing in all their similar sorrow.

"I know, Ruby," Yang said, voice sounding strained and broken. "That's how I feel, too... that's... that's how I feel, too..."


End file.
